Baseball memorabilia that was confiscated by the Bergen County prosecutor may be destroyed because autographs could not be authenticated.

Bye-bye Bob Meusel. Take a hike, Joe Nuxhall.

Sorry Al Kaline, you didn’t make the cut.

Those are just a few of the purported autographs that won’t be hitting the auction block on May 3 when Bergen County tries to sell several hundred items from a trove of baseball memorabilia confiscated in a 2007 illegal prescription drug case.

Only about 25 percent of the items that were submitted for authentication passed inspection, said County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

The rest – some of which may be real but are of questionable origin — have a date with a furnace.

Molinelli said he has no other choice but to destroy those items of marginal authenticity, which have been taking up space on the shelves of an evidence room for more than six years.

To do otherwise would open the county up to potential lawsuits from people who could later claim they were sold a phony item, he said.

“Are there things that are authentic? Probably,” Molinelli said of the items that are slated for destruction. “But I don’t think any of them have significant value.”

“Why would I expose the county taxpayers to a lawsuit over a $40 baseball,” he added. “It was a judgment call on my part.”

Nor can he donate them to charity. Molinelli said guidelines set by the state Attorney General’s Office forbid the donation of counterfeit items to non-profit organizations.

He said that question came up several years ago when police confiscated about 400 pairs of counterfeit designer jeans. Molinelli said he would have preferred to donate the clothing to a homeless shelter, but instead it had to be destroyed.

The owner of a local memorabilia store agreed with Molinelli that there is not much choice but to destroy the non-authenticated items.

“I don’t think you can sell them if you have any questions,” said Dave Lancaster of The Baseball Card Store in Midland Park. “It’s a shame that they have to be destroyed, but if you give it to someone, they can turn around and sell it.”

Molinelli said there are plenty of lawsuits that have been filed over the authenticity of signed memorabilia. To protect against that prospect, Molinelli turned to Drew Max, a Las Vegas-based handwriting analyst.

The prosecutor said his staff contacted other firms that authenticate memorabilia, but they wanted a percentage of the auction proceeds. Molinelli said that posed a potential conflict, since it would then be in the authenticator’s financial interest to approve more items for auction.

Instead Bergen County paid $10,000 and no commission to Max’s company Authentic Autographs Unlimited, including $2,500 for temporary storage. Max also agreed to testify if any lawsuits result from the auction.

Max has his critics in the industry. Last month, Las Vegas television station KLAS-TV aired a report on a man who bought a Babe Ruth baseball authenticated by Max. However, two other authenticators claimed the ball was a fake.

One of them, Brandon Grunbaum, author of “History of the Baseball – a comprehensive look at the baseballs used from the beginning of the game to the present day” said Thursday that several features of the ball in question convinced him it was manufactured in 1952. Ruth died Aug. 16, 1948.

Grunbaum said he’s examined hundreds of balls from that era. He said the design of the official stamp on the ball and other features enabled him to pinpoint the year.

But Marc Goldman, president of Authentic Autographs Unlimited, disputed that finding. Goldman said the company that manufactured baseballs in that era |did not maintain an archive or a serial numbering system so that |it is impossible to precisely date the year in which a ball was made.

Grunbaum, who has worked for rival authenticating firms, said he considers it “unfortunate” that Bergen County is relying upon Max to determine which items to auction and which to destroy.

Goldman countered that such criticism is typical of what’s heard between rival authenticators. He said his company once acquired items authenticated by a rival firm, had Max examine them and put them up for sale with an Authentic Autographs certificate, only to have the original company challenge them.

Molinelli said he knew such criticism in advance of the auction was inevitable.

Those are just a few of the purported autographs that won’t be hitting the auction block on May 3 when Bergen County tries to sell several hundred items from a trove of baseball memorabilia confiscated in a 2007 illegal prescription drug case.

Only about 25 percent of the items that were submitted for authentication passed inspection, said County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

The rest – some of which may be real but are of questionable origin — have a date with a furnace.

Molinelli said he has no other choice but to destroy those items of marginal authenticity, which have been taking up space on the shelves of an evidence room for more than six years.

To do otherwise would open the county up to potential lawsuits from people who could later claim they were sold a phony item, he said.

“Are there things that are authentic? Probably,” Molinelli said of the items that are slated for destruction. “But I don’t think any of them have significant value.”

“Why would I expose the county taxpayers to a lawsuit over a $40 baseball,” he added. “It was a judgment call on my part.”

Nor can he donate them to charity. Molinelli said guidelines set by the state Attorney General’s Office forbid the donation of counterfeit items to non-profit organizations.

He said that question came up several years ago when police confiscated about 400 pairs of counterfeit designer jeans. Molinelli said he would have preferred to donate the clothing to a homeless shelter, but instead it had to be destroyed.

The owner of a local memorabilia store agreed with Molinelli that there is not much choice but to destroy the non-authenticated items.

“I don’t think you can sell them if you have any questions,” said Dave Lancaster of The Baseball Card Store in Midland Park. “It’s a shame that they have to be destroyed, but if you give it to someone, they can turn around and sell it.”

Molinelli said there are plenty of lawsuits that have been filed over the authenticity of signed memorabilia. To protect against that prospect, Molinelli turned to Drew Max, a Las Vegas-based handwriting analyst.

The prosecutor said his staff contacted other firms that authenticate memorabilia, but they wanted a percentage of the auction proceeds. Molinelli said that posed a potential conflict, since it would then be in the authenticator’s financial interest to approve more items for auction.

Instead Bergen County paid $10,000 and no commission to Max’s company Authentic Autographs Unlimited, including $2,500 for temporary storage. Max also agreed to testify if any lawsuits result from the auction.

Max has his critics in the industry. Last month, Las Vegas television station KLAS-TV aired a report on a man who bought a Babe Ruth baseball authenticated by Max. However, two other authenticators claimed the ball was a fake.

One of them, Brandon Grunbaum, author of “History of the Baseball – a comprehensive look at the baseballs used from the beginning of the game to the present day” said Thursday that several features of the ball in question convinced him it was manufactured in 1952. Ruth died Aug. 16, 1948.

Grunbaum said he’s examined hundreds of balls from that era. He said the design of the official stamp on the ball and other features enabled him to pinpoint the year.

But Marc Goldman, president of Authentic Autographs Unlimited, disputed that finding. Goldman said the company that manufactured baseballs in that era |did not maintain an archive or a serial numbering system so that |it is impossible to precisely date the year in which a ball was made.

Grunbaum, who has worked for rival authenticating firms, said he considers it “unfortunate” that Bergen County is relying upon Max to determine which items to auction and which to destroy.

Goldman countered that such criticism is typical of what’s heard between rival authenticators. He said his company once acquired items authenticated by a rival firm, had Max examine them and put them up for sale with an Authentic Autographs certificate, only to have the original company challenge them.

Molinelli said he knew such criticism in advance of the auction was inevitable.